Grammar- Using a or an- Indefinite Articles

Use a if the word begins with a consonant sound:

A box

A cat

A university

A unicorn

A European trip

A hotel

A historic monument (there is emphasis on the ‘h’ sound’)

A Utopian idea (the ‘u’ sounds like a ‘y’)

Use an if the word begins with a vowel sound:

An atom

An entrance

An ice cream cone

An uncle

An hour (the ‘h’ sounds like an ‘o’)

An honourable man (the ‘h’ sounds like an ‘o’)

An MBNA employee (the ‘m’ makes an ‘e’ sound)

It is all about the phonetics and so especially the letters ‘h’ and ‘u’ can often sound like ‘o’ such as ‘hour’ and ‘y’ such as Utopian.

 

The general sound rule is-

 

If it makes a consonant sound use a

If it makes a vowel sound use an